Why SEO Services Still Matter in 2023!
This will age me, but I remember the old days of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In the 2000s and even the early part of the 2010s, an organized group of people with a grudge could work together to redefine a word or a name and “teach” Google to point traffic searching that term to go somewhere they chose. Don’t believe me? Ask Rick Santorum.
Times have changed; with AI and more advanced algorithms, Google is no longer so easily tricked. Indeed, it has gotten pretty difficult to rank for desirable terms. That leads to the question, does SEO services even matter anymore for professional services companies?
This would be a short blog if the answer was no. Good news, the answer is yes. Let’s discuss.
SEO = Content
One way to think about SEO is that it is a manifestation of content. When you create content, particularly content about the work you do, you are basically throwing keywords that identify your expertise into the universe. If you are already creating content, you might as well understand, plan, and measure the SEO implementations of the work you are doing.
Detailed Search Terms
The thing about SEO is to aim at the right target. Realistically, will you rank first for “Recruiting Firm” with a brand new website and a tiny budget? Probably not. But a long-tail keyword like “Government Contractor Recruiting Firm,” might be doable depending on where you live and how much effort you want to put into it. And you know what, if you are a recruiting firm that specializes in backfilling government contracts, you likely care a lot more about people searching the second term than you do about the first.
Locational Search Terms
Similar to detailed search terms, locational search terms break what is likely an overly large segment into more bitesize chunks. As a small business, you’re likely not wanting to get business from all around the world, or even around the country, anyways. “Bookkeeping service in Washington DC” has more searches than “Bookkeeping service,” but optimizing for the former rather than the latter is a lot more doable and gets you in front of your target audience.
A Variety of Content
Think about all of the different kinds of content that provide detail about what you do, who you serve, and where you target. You may have how-to blogs, best practice blogs, top 5 lists, etc. The list is endless. For the purposes of this post, I am limiting the discussion to blogs. But this certainly applies to website pages, videos, and podcasts as well.
Want to know a secret? This article is doing just what I am talking about. This is a piece of content that is created both to inform you about this topic (are you feeling informed?) and also to establish our credibility in discussing SEO services. It identifies recruiting firms, bookkeeping services, and professional service firms as target audiences and establishes our location as the Washington DC area and more specifically Bethesda, Maryland.
Do you want to integrate blog creation and SEO into your marketing strategy but you aren’t sure where to start? Let us help you. At Spring Insight, we work with professional services (particularly those with recognized subject matter experts) to share their messages online. Let’s set up a time to discuss how we can help you.